At the Threshold
by CharlieTheCAG
Summary: One-Shot: Sometimes something is right in front of you, and when you finally realize it, it hits you with the impact of an asteroid, and your life will be forever changed, all in five minutes. 100% spoiler free. Oh, definite Rizzles. Just to be clear.


Jane saw Maura, pacing back and forth, across the precinct lobby when she came in.

Relief washed over her and she felt her chest expand. She could breathe again. When had she stopped breathing? Did it matter? Not really. All that really mattered was that Maura was there, here, and she was okay.

Jane's feet were still, frozen in time from when her eyes had landed on Maura. Maura, who was standing on the far side of the lobby, while Jane stood not ten feet from the front doors. The same doors she walked through day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. The doors she was damn proud to enter. The same doors she often walked through with Maura.

Maura.

...

Jane felt like she'd just been hit by a train. Maura. She loved Maura. Of _course_ she loved Maura. How could she not have seen it? The feeling was both terrifying and comforting at the same time. Alien and familiar. New and old. Awe inducing, yet commonplace.

Jane's mouth opened slightly and a small squeak came out. She had meant to call out to Maura. She squeaked instead. It was quiet, and easily swallowed by the goings-on in the lobby. But Maura heard it. Of course she'd heard it. She pivoted swiftly on the spot towards the sound. On four-inch heels. Because who was Maura without her heels? They were all but synonymous.

Jane swept her eyes up Maura's body. Taking her in all at once, yet piece by piece, inch by inch. As Maura completed her pivot, their eyes met. Suddenly Jane was missing the air she'd been breathing. Maura had stolen it. But from the look on Maura's face, she wasn't breathing it in.

The air felt charged with electricity as they held each other's gaze for a moment. Then Jane was moving. The conviction and power behind her movement was enough to draw the attention of at least half the occupants in the lobby. And a few people just inside the Division One Café.

Maura's eyes grew bigger as Jane approached her. She seemed to intake a breath just as Jane touched her. And oh how she touched her.

Jane's fingers wound into Maura's hair, the soft, golden curls she'd longed to touch for longer than she'd ever realized. She gently grasped her and pulled their faces firmly together, slightly angling Maura's head one way, and her own the other. Their lips met in the middle.

Neither open mouthed, but also not closed. Lips just barely parted, so that it was a perfect fit. Maura let out a whimper and brought her arms up in between them, curling her fingers into the lapels of Jane's blazer, in an attempt to both hold herself up, and closer to Jane.

Jane poured everything she had into that kiss. That first kiss. Onto those gorgeous lips. Lips that felt like silk and tasted better than anything she'd ever tasted. Jane needed more. She tentatively ran her tongue along Maura's bottom lip, then repositioned her mouth so that she was now kissing her upper lip, then moved back to the lower lip, lightly sucking on it. By now, Maura was most definitely holding herself upright by Jane's blazer.

Jane physically pulled back ever so slightly, dropping a careful kiss onto Maura's top lip and held it there. Fear ran through her body, alongside euphoria. She was kissing the woman she loved. Lips that were the last lips she ever wanted to taste. Feel. Forever be lost in.

Maura seemed paralyzed, and just as Jane started to worry about her, Maura inhaled. Quickly, deeply, shuddering. She let out the breath almost the same as it had gone in. Neither woman had opened their eyes since their lips had touched.

Just as Jane started to fear that she'd crossed a line, about to open her eyes, Maura hauled her back into her body, and reinitiated full contact. If it was possible, it was even better than their first kiss. Maura held Jane tightly in place, almost as though she was afraid Jane would run. Complete disregard to the fact that Jane had initiated all of this.

Maura ran her tongue along Jane's lower lip, as Jane had done to her not a minute ago. Jane parted her lips, allowing Maura the access she sought. Their tongues met and it was like an explosion. Or maybe an implosion, drawing them even closer together, something neither thought was possible, as they were pressed against one another as tightly as possible, while they were still standing. Although how Maura was still managing to remain standing in her heels was a mystery to everyone.

Jane's left hand loosened from her grasp in Maura's hair, and slid down, so that her fingers cradled the back of Maura's neck, curling into the soft hair there. Her thumb gently stroking the side of Maura's jaw and ear. Their lips continued to glide together, tongues effortlessly dancing a dance only they knew, that was unique to them, and them alone. Neither woman trying to gain dominance, but both giving and taking, sharing.

At this point all eyes in the lobby were trained on the couple. Someone who had been watching from the Café had called over buddies from further inside, who then called over others, so most of the Café was watching by now too. Both Jane and Maura were oblivious to their surroundings however, too wrapped up in one another, both figuratively and literally.

By now both women were nearing their threshold of needing to breathe. They pulled back from one another slightly, foreheads touching, lips glancing, breath mingling, chests heaving, the barest of spaces between their bodies. Eyes slowly opening, meeting one another's gaze.

Jane swallowed. "Maura, I _love_ you. I'm sorry I haven't told you sooner. But I do. I love you. I love you so much that you are a part of me, and I can't _possibly_ imagine life without you." Jane's voice was deep, raspy, holding that delicious, gravelly intonation that her voice sometimes took on. Her eyes stared deep into Maura's. They were dark, almost black, with an ounce of desperation, a pound of desire, and a ton of love.

Maura opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, someone coughed. It startled both of them, who for a few minutes had forgotten where they were, caught up in their own emotions. They both turned slightly to face the lobby better, towards the doors Jane had entered not even five minutes prior. They never let go of one other, Jane's hands still occupied with Maura's face, Maura still clinging to Jane's lapels. A blazer that the wrinkles may never come out of.

Neither woman's thoughts were on the blazer. Who cared if it was wrinkled forever? And it most likely would be. Even if Jane did choose to buy and wear horrible, yet forgiving, polyester blends.

Maura could feel Jane's body tense up slightly when she realized everyone in the lobby was watching them. She turned back to face Jane, somehow managing to unfurl her fingers from the blazer and move her right hand to Jane's hip, and her left to Jane's face, mirroring the touch Jane had on her. Their eyes connected and Jane's entire body relaxed again, her head leaning into Maura's cool hand. The hazel eyes that were staring back at her were currently the deepest olive green she'd ever seen Maura's eyes go, the outer ring a golden brown.

The both heard an elevator ding, signaling its arrival. Maura moved her hand from Jane's hip and gently grasped the hand that Jane was using to cradle her face. A hand that had stilled when Jane realized they weren't alone, but had resumed its gentle strokes when Maura had looked at her.

"Come." Maura's voice was steady, deeper than her everyday tone. She gave Jane's hand a gentle squeeze and drew their hands down, entwining their fingers, keeping a firm and loving grasp. Maura quickly pulled them into the elevator, the lone beat cop standing inside rapidly getting out if the elevator car. Maura turned from Jane slightly to hit the button that would take them down to the morgue.

As she turned back towards Jane, she found herself lost in her eyes once again. They'd barely spoken to each other since Jane had gotten back to the precinct, not in words. But their eyes, and lips, and bodies, had spoken volumes to one another already. Jane opened her mouth to say something to Maura, and Maura rapidly closed the distance, answering her unspoken questions with her mouth instead.

Yes, the answer would always be yes. To anything Jane wanted. Maura poured all her love for Jane into this kiss, not that it had been absent from the kisses prior, but Maura wanted to make sure her feelings for Jane were clear in this moment. The way Jane was responding to her, Maura understood her point was getting across.

The elevator doors slid shut, hiding them from the rest of the precinct, ensconcing them back into their own world. A world full of love, tenderness, desire, and passion. They would be okay. They were Jane and Maura. Rizzoli and Isles. And neither could be one without the other.

* * *

_A/N: I seriously almost wrote this as a Choose Your Own Adventure, because so many times I couldn't decide which of two ways I wanted to go. I used to think those books must be hard to write. Probably not. So I'm not a FF writer, even though this speaks to the contrary. I had an idea that refused to die, I played around with it, got some encouragement from my bbg, and quite a lovely bit of encouragement and nudges from my chubby penguin! ;) Thanks sociallyawkwardpenguin, probably wouldn't have done this without you! Not likely to do it again either… _

_Thank you for reading! You're welcome to leave a review if you'd like! Please, no flames, they don't help anybody. They just make me sad to read, and the reviewer ends up looking like a jerk. Not really looking for constructive criticism either, because this is just a one-shot and I don't plan on editing it any further. If you don't like my writing style, that's okay, but we're all different and this is how I felt this one going. Not everybody is going to love it._

_Oh right, I own nothing, I got paid nothing. I've just watched and read too much Rizzles._


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